Scrapper for dough-cutting machines.



Patented Apr. 8, [902 J. L. CAUSEY.

SCRAPPER FOB DOUGH CUTTING MACHINES.

(Application filed Jam 2, 1902.)

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES JOSEPH L. OAUSEY, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

SCRAPPER FOR DOUGH-CUTTING MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 696,939, dated April 8, 1902.

Application filed January 2, 1902. Serial No. 87,996. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J OSEPH L. CAUSEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Scrappers for Dough- Cutting Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to scrappers for doughcutting machines-that is, machines for rolling out the dough, cutting it into crackers or cakes, and conveying the same to a con venient point, whence they are removed in sheets by long peels. All scrappers with which I am familiar operate transversely of and at right angles to a canvas belt, which conveys the dough from the rolling apparatus to the cutting devices, thence to the point of removal, and are generally objectionable because of the frequency with which they tear or rip such conveyer. They are also objectionable because they cannot be depended upon to invariably efiect a clean-cut separation between the sheets of crackers or cakes and the marginal or waste strips of dough.

My object is to produce a scrapper open to neither of the objectionable features mentioned and which, furthermore, can be manufactured and secured in position upon the cutting-machine at a much lower cost than the scrappers above referred to; and itemsists, essentially, of a toothed disk engaging and preferably operated by the dough and arranged at an angle to the latter and the belt, so as to deflect the waste strips toward andover the contiguous side of the machine.

The invention further consists in certain novel and peculiar features of construction and organization, as hereinafter described and claimed, and in order that it may be fully understood reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which-- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a dough-cutting machine equipped with scrappers embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is a crosssection of the Scrapper, the relative positions of the belt and dough being shown by dotted lines.

In the said drawings, 1 designates the frame of a cracker or cake cutting machine of any preferred type, and 2 designates the endless conveyer or belt thereof, the same traveling intermittently in the direction indicated by the arrows, Fig. 1. y 7

3 designates the frame for the verticallyreciprocating die or cutter 4:, said die or cutter being operated by the reciprocating rods 5 to cut the dough a, which travels with an intermittent motion, into crackers or cakes, it being understood, of course, that this cutting action does not completely sever the individual crackers or cakes from each other nor from the ragged side or waste strips 1). These waste strips are caused by the scrap= per, hereinafter described, to pass off over the side of the machine down onto a trans- Verse belt 6, underlying the frame for the purpose of dropping both waste strips into a pan or receptacle (not shown) at the side of the machine, from whichit can be most conveniently removed, and to make this operation more reliable the conveyer is provided with marginal walls 7, which prevent the strips from slipping off the belt. This belt is suitably journaled, and its driving-shaft 8 is provided with a ratchet-wheel 9, which operates intermittently, the actuating means being a gravity-pawl 10 on one of the rods 5.

Referring now to the scrapper proper, 11 designates a yoke-casting provided with a clamping-screw 12 for engagement with the frame of the machine. It is also provided with a circular passage 13 and with a setscrew 14, communicating with said passage near its inner end and adapted by engagement with the shaft 15 to secure the latter rigidly at the desired point in its longitudinal or rotatable adjustment, it being capable of both adjustments for the purpose which is hereinafter explained. This shaft is provided at its inner end with an arm 16, which slopes and of such proportion that its peripheral teeth 20, which are downwardly disposed, shall successively engage the dough, only a few teeth, however, being in engagement with the dough at any one time. This wheel or disk is preferably of the construction shown most clearly in Fig. 3; but it'obviously is susceptible of modification in some particulars without departing from the invention. In practice, as shown in Fig. 2, the shaft 15 is adjustable longitudinally and rotatably, so as to dispose the wheel or disk in approximately the position shown in Fig. 2, there being a scrapper for each waste strip. As thus arranged it will be observed that the lowest teeth of the wheels or disks engage the dough in the outermost cuts made by the knife and that such engagement obviously causes them to rotate at the same speed as the belt and in a direction diverging slightly forward from the latter, this divergence of movement being for the purpose of gradually separating or tearing away from the central sheet portion such waste strips and forcing them to run over the sides of the machine, one of them, if desired, directly into a pan or receptacle (not shown) and the other onto the belt 6, which will deliver into the same receptacle. The importance of having the wheels or disks driven by the moving dough is to insure an absolute unison of movement, though this could probably be otherwise obtained, in order that-should a tooth of the wheel or disk catch in a loose thread of the belt or its seam suchthread will not be broken and will be automatically disengaged from the tooth. In this connection it will be apparent that the tapering of each tooth to a point, as shown in Fig. 3, will more reliably insure the separation from a thread without injury to the latter than would be the case if the tooth were otherwise formed; but it is to be understood that I do not confine myself to any particular shape of disk-tooth. I have found that the best results in the action of this disk are obtained by disposing the shaft-arms 16 not only upwardly and inwardly over the belt, but also by having them converge forward slightly, this result being obtained by the ro-- tatable adjustment of the shaft, the greater such adjustment the greater or sharper the divergence of movement between the belt and the wheels or disks. The teeth by operating in theoutermost cuts of the knife, as demonstrated in actual use, make absolute and positive the clean-cut separation of the strips parentthat I have produced a scrapper which cannot injure the carrying-belt, effects a it is to be understood that I reserve the right to make all changes which properly fall within the spirit and scope of the same.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination of a cutting-machine having a traveling belt on which the dough is carried, and a scrapper, comprising a toothed wheel or disk engaging the dough, and rotating in substantially the same direction that the dough is moving.

2. The combination of a cutting-machine, having a traveling belt on which the doughis carried, and a scrapper, comprising a toothed wheel or disk engaging and turned by the moving dough.

3. The combination of a cutting-machine, having a traveling belt on which the dough is carried, and a scrapper comprisingashaft ex tending upwardly and inwardly over. the

dough, and a toothed wheel or disk journaled on said shaft and engaging the dough.

4. The combination of a cutting-machine, having a traveling belt on which the dough is carried, and a scrapper, comprising a rotatablyadjustable shaft extending upwardly and inwardly over the dough, and a toothed wheel or disk journaled on said shaft and engaging the dough.

5. The combination of a cutting-machine, having a traveling belt on which the dough is carried, and a scrapper, comprising a longitudinally-adjustable shaft extending transversely of and upwardly and inwardly over the'dough, and a toothed wheel or disk journaled on said shaft and engaging the dough.

6. The combination of a cutting-machine, having a traveling belt on which the dough is carried, and a scrapper, comprising, a shaft extending transversely of the belt andupwardly and inwardly over the same, and adj ustable both longitudinally and rotatably, and a toothed wheel or disk j ournaled on said shaft and engaging the dough.

7. The combination of a cutting-machine, having a traveling belt on which the dough is carried, and a scrapper comprising a yoke casting detachably clamped to the cuttingmachine frame, a shaft rotatably and longi tudinally adjustable in said casting, and pro vided with an arm extending upwardly and inwardly over the dough, and a toothed wheel or disk journaled on said shaft and engaging the dough.

8. The combination of a cutting-machine, having a traveling belt on which the dough is carried, and a Scrapper comprising a shaft In testimony whereof I affix my signature extending upwardly and inwardly over the in the presence of two witnesses. dough, a toothed wheel or disk journaled on said shaft and engaging the dough, and a col- 5 lar adjustable on the shaft and supporting Witnesses:

the toothed wheel or disk at the desired ele- H. C. RODGERS, vation. G. Y. THORPE.

JOSEPH L. CAUSEY. 

